Author Archives: chipkaufmann

The folks at Kino Lorber have been very busy the past couple of years putting together important collections of niche movies by forgotten and/or marginalized filmmakers. In 2016 there was PIONEERS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CINEMA. In 2018 there was PIONEERS: FIRST WOMEN FILMMAKERS. Now in 2020 it’s THE JEWISH SOUL: TEN CLASSICS OF YIDDISH CINEMA.Continue reading “THE JEWISH SOUL: A Poignant & Significant Capturing Of A Lost World”

Ida Lupino (1918-1995) is best known as an actress whose career spanned over 30 years and included such Hollywood classics as HIGH SIERRA, LADIES IN RETIREMENT, and THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. It is only in recent years that her work as a pioneering female director of film and television is finally being recognized. BetweenContinue reading “IDA LUPINO: Long Overdue Appreciation Of Her As A Director”

This 6 Blu-Ray set of 55 films (11 of them features) and 7 short documentaries is the best collection so far of material made by American women filmmakers in the silent era. An earlier set called EARLY WOMEN FILMMAKERS also features directors from Europe & Russia. While this set contains several films which have alreadyContinue reading “PIONEERS: FIRST WOMEN FILMMAKERS: Best Collection So Far Of Films By Early American Women Film Directors”

…by all the buzz (positive and negative) that THE WITCH has received. It is not at all what the trailers would lead you to believe. Instead of a 17th century BLAIR WITCH PROJECT or the standard jump cut, sound cue, blood bath that constitutes most horror movies today, it is a poetic meditation on whatContinue reading “THE WITCH (2015): I Am Not At All Surprised…”

THE LIGHTHOUSE is one of the most frustrating viewing experiences I’ve had for a very long time. I’d been looking forward to seeing this movie ever since I’d first heard about it. I’ve loved lighthouses ever since I was a child and a film about lighthouse keepers set in the 19th century and shot inContinue reading “THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019): Robert Eggar’s Frustrating Follow Up To THE WITCH”

I have been a fan of Mary Pickford since I first read Kevin Brownlow’s book THE PARADE’S GONE BY way back in the 1960s. By the late 1980s when I finally got to see some of her silent films on VHS I became even more of a fan. It wasn’t until this century that herContinue reading “COQUETTE (1929): The First & Worst Of Mary Pickford’s 4 Sound Films”

THE FROZEN DEAD is another one of those movies that made an impression on me from seeing it on the small screen. By the time it was released (1967) I was in high school and had discovered British horror but I still had my roots in really low budget American horror movies. This film managedContinue reading “THE FROZEN DEAD Could Be Subtitled A Farewell To “Arms””

From the moment LEGENDS OF HORROR was announced I was looking forward to it with great expectation but I already had a few qualms regarding it. As has been well covered elsewhere Boris Karloff’s THE WALKING DEAD from 1936 should have been included in the set but I can live with THE RETURN OF DOCTORContinue reading “LEGENDS OF HORROR: A Great Set With Some Minor Issues”

As has often been pointed out, especially since the turn of the century with the renewed interest in silent movies, 1927’s THE JAZZ SINGER is not the first sound feature. It is a silent movie complete with title cards that has only a few sound sequences featuring Al Jolson singing although those scenes did hastenContinue reading “THE LIGHTS OF NEW YORK (1928): The FIRST True Talkie Is Still Of Interest Today”

When the Laemmle Family lost control of Universal Pictures in 1936 and his contract with them was at an end, Boris Karloff signed a one picture deal with Warner Brothers. That movie, THE WALKING DEAD directed by the legendary Michael Curtiz, was successful enough that the studio offered him a 4 picture deal. After finishingContinue reading “BORIS KARLOFF: Triple Feature Has Something To Offer”